The Weaver's House

Tag: loom

  • A Crafty Christmas

    A Crafty Christmas

    A row of tiny Christmas elves with red hats
    Christmas elves made from corks, Tunisian crochet hats, with kumihimo braiding scarves

    There’s no doubt that Christmas is going to be a little different this year. With a lockdown once again in place, we are looking to crafty ways to stay occupied and even make some Christmas presents.

    Here are some of the creations by Weavers’ Workshop member, Anne-Marie, decorations and gifts, all home-made.

    A pair of cheerfully coloured rugs made of recycled materials:

    • purple and red striped red rug
      A bathroom rug woven on a rigid heddle loom using ribbon as a warp and old linen strips for the weft
    • striped rug, colourful mixed wool and ornage fringe
      Twined rag rug made of old linen fabric strips on a weaving frame

    The ‘warp’ is the long pieces of yarn or other textile which is held in place on a loom or a frame. In the above left example, ribbon has been used.

    a wooden loom stands on the floor of the kitchen
    Making the twined rag rug from old linen fabric strips on a weaving frame.
    • small wooden loom with a textured wool on it
      A waistcoat woven on a four shaft loom using Scottish Tweed wool.
    • dark textured wool
      The finished waistcoat.

    Looms and frames can vary in size from small handheld frames to huge industrial looms, but the principle is the same. You don’t need a loom or a frame to weave, simple weaving sticks or backstrap are other traditional methods. Find out how we set up our large replica medieval loom here.

    • cushion cover, red and gold with a central circular motif in shades of blue
      A round woven cushion cover done on a round pin loom
    • detail of cushion cover, red background, edge of circular motif in blues
      The cushion cover is made with home spun & dyed merino wool
    cream and grey oval rug
    Amish style rag rug, made from old linen strips, a weaving needle and blanket stitch.
    This style is also called a toothbrush rug
    A row of tiny Christmas elves with red hats
    These festive little elves have been made from repurposed corks. Their hats are made from Tunisian crochet which blends techniques from knitting and crochet. Their scarves are kumihino, a traditional Japanese braiding craft.

    Have you taken up or revived any textile crafts this year? We’d love to see your creations on our social media pages.

    Huge thanks to Anne-Marie for sharing her beautiful creations.

  • Warp speed ahead!

    Warp speed ahead!

     

     

    In this post Sara of the Weavers’ Workshop takes us through the process of rewarping our reproduction loom, a mammoth task!

    The replica medieval floor loom is at last warped up following several wintry sessions in the freezing upstairs ‘solar’ of The Weaver’s House. We had no heating, but thankfully we had the benefit of electric lighting, so we cannot really claim to be replicating the task that faced John Croke in 1540, who would have only had a rush light with which to see by.

    working on the loom illuminated by electric bulb shining on the threads

    The warping up process was managed over several cold, lengthy sessions thanks to the technical expertise of Ian McClusky from the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers and support from The Weavers’ Workshop (Margaret Annetts, Heidi Campbell and me). The Weaver’s House trustee, Peterson, assisted to get the technical elements of the loom working – so the shafts and foot pedals synchronised to create a workable ‘shed’ through which to pass the boat shuttle.

    plain wool is carefully added to the loom
    Ian hard at work on the loom

    long flowing threads of wool across the loom

    The loom is a faithful reproduction of the type of narrow floor loom used in medieval times to produce undyed cloth for the artisan workers in the area. It is hoped to demonstrate the weaving process as it would have been done at that time using a boat shuttle, but there is still work to do to find a suitable shuttle and master the technique. While weaving cloth seems straightforward enough in principle, setting up the loom and achieving a rhythmic approach to the weaving process requires great skill and it is amazing in these days of advanced technology, how the craftsmen of old achieved great things with what we regard now as relatively simple equipment.

    You can see a full picture of the loom in the gallery.

    If you are interested in traditional weaving, you may be interested in our post on weaving in Mexico, on a very similar loom.

  • A look back at the busy month of June

    A look back at the busy month of June

    The garden at The Weaver’s House had certainly burst into life and was looking stunning. What a difference a few weeks made, with the early May Open Day showing patches of green and tentative buds, fully blossoming into life for June. Visitors joined us from Coventry, Sheffield, Taunton, Rugby, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Northampton, Warwick, Kenilworth and Birmingham.

     

    Moving further into the month, The Weavers’ Workshop took part in Warwickshire Open Studios – Coventry Arts Trail across two weeks in June with open sessions from 10am – 12pm on the Mondays and Thursdays. Visitors were able to take part in make and take activities and weaving and admire a display of projects.

    This year’s public weave is underway with a warp which has been woad-dyed in the Japanese Ikat style. This means there will be variations in colour along the warp using resist dyeing methods, which should give some kind of geometric pattern in the weave. It’s all very experimental so it’s been a steep learning curve and the result is likely to be random variations in colour akin, perhaps, to a river flowing. It will be a piece very different to our public weaving last year. The weaving has been part of  theCoventry Arts Trail offer, giving visitors the chance to have a go at loom weaving and as last year, is proving very popular.

    Also part of Warwickshire Open Studios, was Jane Cobbett’s special patchwork exhibition War & Pieced. An array of beautiful and intriguing pieces was on display throughout the house and garden. There was also a display of projects inspired by the theme, with the opportunity for visitors to vote for their favourite. Lots and lots of visitors stopped by despite (or because?) of clashing with the World Cup including an England game!

    There will be another chance to see some of the quilts at The Textile History Group’s Celebration of Crafts on Saturday 10 November, 10.30am to 3.30pm. Taking place at St Barbara’s Church in Earlsdon, there will be crafts for sale and a pop-up tea shop – sounds perfect! More details are here.

    Out next Open Day is on Sunday 22 July and sees the return of the very popular Tudor Games Day.

  • Loom: The Game

    Loom: The Game

    Out Christmas shopping, we were pleased to see weaving still has a place on the high street, spotting these looms in Flying Tiger recently.

    boxed weaving and bead looms

    We previously considered vintage and new weaving toys in this post, but how about something a bit different? Who remembers this game from the 90s?

    Game box illustration of hands linked with illuminated thread

    LucasArts were well known in the 90s for their highly regarded, pop-culture referencing hit adventure games such as Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max Hit the Road and the legendary Monkey Island series. Loom was rather different, set in a fantasy realm where magic, music and weaving are intrinsically linked to the ‘fabric’ of reality. It references guilds, patterns and the hero is named Bobbin Threadbare!

    Bobbin carries a magical distaff which he uses to weave spells which are a sequence of four notes in various permuations. The game came packed with a ‘Book of Patterns’ notebook to jot down musical notes and ideas during gameplay.

    screenshot of 90s computer game of a loom
    Image: Wikipedia

    A rather different weaving game, Loom is now available on various platforms so you can have a try for yourself or relive your 90s gaming years if you have some quiet time over the holiday season!